Infinite stop door hinge



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INFINI'IIE STOP DOOR HINGE Filed DeC. 22. 1966 7j I INVENTOR.

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l INFINITE STOP DOOR HINGE Filed DGO'. 22, 1966 Sheet 44j/ @vf/44 7 V/4/ l INVENTOR United States Patent C) 3,427,682 INFINITE STOP DOORHINGE William V. Bachmann, St. Clair Shores, Mich., assignor to ChryslerCorporation, Highland Park, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec.22, 1966, Ser. No. 603,827

U.S. Cl. 16-146 10 Claims Int. Cl. Ed 11/10 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Ahinge :assembly with a door-supporting hinge arm is provided with aresiliently constrained control arm. lA friction dog or wedge membercarried by the hinge arm frictionally engages cooperating surfaces onthe control arm as the door is moved towards either its opened or closedposition in order to maintain the door in any selected position.

Background of the invention -In the past, especially in automotivevehicles, doors have been provided with hinge assemblies which wereintended to be capable of maintaining the associated vehicle door in afully opened position or in a half-open position depending on Where thedoor was manually moved during such time as when for example, anoccupant was alighting from the vehicle. One of the major problemsassoci-ated with the hinge assemblies of the prior art is the fact thatusually an occupant, upon leaving the vehicle, is not in position tomove the door to its fully opened position but only to some positionintermediate the fully opened and half-open positions. As a consequence,the door tends to move towards its closed position thereby causing theoccupant t-o be continually concerned with holding the door whilealighting from the vehicle. This problem becomes aggravated insituations where the vehicle is parked in a manner causing one side ofthe vehicle to be higher than the other. In such a situation, if anoccupant alights from the side of the vehicle which is higher, theoccupant must continually resist the force of gravity which is tendingto close the door.

Summary of the invention The present invention includes a hingearrangement wherein a door supporting hinge arm carries a resilientlybiased friction member adapted to engage a pivotally supported controlarm, which is resiliently biased toward the friction member, in order tohold the door in any selected position.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a door hingeassembly which is capable of holding a door in any selected position.

Another object of this invention is to provide, in a door hingeassembly, variably positioned abutment means continually effective tomaintain a door in a -irst partially opened position and also effectiveto maintain said door in successive positions each of which isprogressively a more fully opened condition than the immediatelypreceding position.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent whenreference is made to the following description considered in conjunctionwith the drawings.

Descrption of the drawings In the accompanying drawings:

`FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a hinge assembly, constructed inaccordance with this invention, shown mounted to a suitable support of avehicle and carrying a door which is shown in a closed position;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane of line2-2 of FIGURE 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane of line3-3 of FIGURE 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE l but showing the position of therespective elements of the hinge assembly while the door is being movedtowards its fully opened position;

4FIGURE 5 is a view similar to both FIGURES i1 and 4 but illustratingthe position of the respective elements of the hinge assembly While thedoor is being moved towards its closed position;

FIGURES -6 and 7 are enlarged fragmentary crosssectional views takenrespectively on the planes of lines 6-6 and 7-7 of FIGURES 4 and 5;

FIGURE S is a View similar to FIGURE 4 illustrating a modication of theinvention as disclosed by FIG- URES l1 through 7;

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary elevational view of a portion of one of theelements shown in FIGURE 8, taken generally in the direction of arrow Aof FIGURE 8; and

'FIGURE 10 is a cross-sectional view taken generally on the plane ofline 16-10 of FIGURE 8 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now in greater detailto the drawings, FIG- URE 1 illustrates the hinge assembly 10 ascomprising a pivot ysupport bracket 12 having a base portion '14suitably secured as by screws 16, one of which is shown, to a portion ofthe door frame 18. The frame or support 18 may in fact be a portion ofan automotive vehicle. A fragmentary portion of the vehicle outer bodypanel, illustrated at 20, is shown to have an edge surface 2'2 which isin close proximity to a juxtaposed edge 524 of a door assembly 26 whenthe door is in its closed position.

Bracket 12, when secured to the support 18, has laterally extendingopposed walls 218 and 30 which are formed integrally with base 14. Ascan be seen in FIGURE l, projections 32 and 34 are respectively formedat the ends of wall 28 and similarly projections 3'6 and 38 are formed-a-t the ends of wall v30. From both FIGURES 1 and 2 it can be seen thatprojections 32 and 36 cooperate to contain a rst pivot member 40 whileprojections 34 and 38 contain a second pivot member 42.

A hinge arm 44, having one end 46 pivotally mounted on pivot 42, isrigidly secured in any suitable manner to the door 26 so as to provideboth a support for the door assembly and also a pivotal connection withmember 42 and consequently the support 18 through bracket 12. For stressreasons, hinge arm 44 is of a generally U-shaped cross-sectionalconiiguration having what may be referred to as a bight portion 48 withintegrally formed oppositely disposed walls 50 and 52. Hinge arm 44 hasan opening 54 formed therethrough which is intended to accommodate thepassage therethrough of an arcuate holding lever 56. One end of atension spring 58 is connected to end 60 of holding arm 56 by means ofan aperture 62 formed therethrough while the other end of spring 58 isconnected to support bracket 12 by means of a tongue portion 64 formedon the bracket and an aperture 66 formed in the tongue 64. The other end68 of holding arm 56 is pivotally secured to the support bracket 12 bymeans of pivot member 40. Tubular spacers 70 and 72 may be mounted onpivot 40 and disposed on opposite sides of holding arm 56 in order tomaintain the generally medial position of holding arm 56 with respect tobracket 12 and hinge arm opening 54. Likewise, a tubular spacer 74 ispreferably provided about pivot 42 between the walls S0 and 52 of end 46of hinge arm 44 in order to transmit loading forces as between walls 50and 52. As best seen in FIGURE 1, end 68 of holding arm 56 is providedwith an integrally formed abutment or stop portion 76 which is intendedto abut against the base 14 of bracket 12 to prevent furthercounter-clockwise rotation of arm 56 when the door 26 is in closedposition as illustrated in FIGURE 1. Further, as will be noted by bothFIGURES 1 and 3, holding arm 56 has a tapered portion 78, formedgenerally along the inner arcuate edge, comprised of converging taperedsurfaces 80 and 82.

Hinge arm 44, in addition to supporting and carrying the door assembly26, also carries a pivotally mounted dog or wedging member 84. Referringto both FIGURES 1 and 2, it can be seen that dog 84 is comprised of abody portion 86 which is pivotally mounted and supported by a pivotmember 88 which, in turn, is secured to` and carried by hinge arm 44.Body 86 of dog 84 carries an integrally formed sector 89 which has agenerally V- shaped or wedge-like groove 90 formed therein.

Preferably, groove 90 is formed so as to be generally concentricallydisposed with reference to the pivot member 88. As will become moreapparent, as this description progresses, the tapering wall surfaces 92and 94 of groove 90 are intended to at times respectively engage thetapering surfaces 80 and 82 of holding arm 56.

Dog 84 also has an integrally formed radially extending lever portion 96which, by virtue of an aperture 98 formed therethrough, is adapted toreceive one end 100 of a torsion spring `102. The torsion spring 102 ispreferably mounted about a locating type support 104 carried by hingearm 44 and has its other end 106 restrained within a holding portion 108which, as illustrated, may be integrally formed in the wall 50 of hingearm 44. Torsion spring 102 is effective to continually urge the rotationof dog 84 counter-clockwise about pivot 88 as viewed in FIGURE 1.Preferably, support bracket 12 has a projection 110 which, when the doorassembly 26 is moved to the closed position of FIGURE 1, abuts againstthe lever arm 96 of dog 84 in order to assure dog 84 assuming a positionsubstantially as shown in FIGURE 1. This, of course, is against theaction of torsion spring 102.

Referring to both FIGURES 1 and 6, as door assembly 26 is moved from theclosed position of FIGURE 1, dog 84 tends to rotate counter-clockwiseabout its pivot 88. However, the degree to which such rotation isexperienced in the initial moments of ldoor-opening-movement isrestricted by the abutment 110 and the wedging portion 78 of holding arm56. As can be noted from any of FIGURES 1, 4 and 5, cut-out or relievedportions 112 and 114 are respectively provided at opposite ends of theholdin-g arm 56 in order to permit freedom of rotation of dog 84 in suchareas. However, as previously mentioned, very little rotation of dog 84occurs in cut-out 114, while the door is being moved to an openposition, because lever arm 96 of ydog 84 continues to abut againstmember 110 until such time as the sector 89 is in relatively closeproximity to wedge-like edge 78 of control arm 56. Referring to FIGURE1, it can be seen that the distance from the edge 78 to the center ofpivot 42 is not constant throughout the length of edge 78 but rathervaries from a shortest distance which exists near the swingable end ofcontrol arm 56 to a longest distance which exists near the pivoted endof the control arm 56.

Consequently, as door assembly 26 is moved toward the open position,sector 89 of the dog 84 generally receives the wedge edge 78 within itsgroove 90'. Continued movement of the door 26 in the opening directionresults in a sliding frictional contact between surfaces 80, 82 ofholding arm 56 and surfaces 92, 94 of the groove `90, respeciively. Suchsliding friction causes the sector 89 and dog 84 to assume a positionsubstantially as shown in FIGURE 4 during such correspondingdoor-opening movements. Torsion spring :102, of course, continues tourge dog 84 in a counter-clockwise direction thereby assuring continuedcontact Abetween the respective surfaces of the wedge portion 78 andcoacting groove 90.

It should also be noted that because of the fixed distance betweenpivots 42 and 88 and the variable distance of the wedge edge 78 to thepivot 42, increasingly greater dooropening movements cause the controlor holding arm 56 to pivot in a clockwise direction about pivot 40, asviewed in either of FIGURES 1, 4 and 5. However, in order to have thisoccur, end 60 of arm 56 must move against the continually increasingresistance of tension spring 58.

If door asembly 26 is moved to the position illustrated in FIGURE 4 andreleased, the door will remain in that position and not move towards itsclosed position. Referring to FIGURE 6 as well as FIGURE 4, it can beseen that surfaces 80, 82 are abutting against surfaces 92 and 94. Also,it can be seen, from FIGURE 4, that the point at which such abuttingaction occurs is eccentrically disposed relative to a line drawn throughthe centers of pivots 42 and 88. Accordingly, this means that beforedoor 26 can move towards the closed position, the wedging actionaccomplished by the cooperating groove and tapered edge 78 must beovercome. However, such wedging action can only be overcome by causingthe end face 114 of sector 89 to be in line with the line passingthrough the centers of pivots 42 and 88. This may be achieved byforceably moving the door 26 towards its closed position generallyclockwise about pivot 42. During this time torsion spring 102 continuesurging the dog 84 in a counterclockwise direction about pivot 88. Suchurging by torsion spring 102 and the frictional forces existing asbetween surfaces 80, 82 and 92, 94, respectively, cause the sector 89 tostart walking along the tapered edge 78 as dog 84 correspondinglyrotates about its pivot 88 and hinge arm 44 rotates about pivot 42.

Such movement by the sector 89 and dog 84 requires that control arm 56rotate slightly about pivot 40 in the clockwise direction therebycausing spring 58 to undergo further stressing. The tension of thespring 58 increases until face 114 is rotated to the point that it is inline with a line drawn through the centers of pivots 42 and 88.

Further movement of door 26 in `the closing direction causes the dog 84to rotate counter-clockwise about its pivot 88 thereby assumingpositions such as that illustrated in FIGURE 5. Dog 84 may continue itsrotation until its other face 118 on sector 89 assumes a position, withrespect to edge 78 of control arm 56, similar =but opposite to face 116as shown in FIGURE 4.

As door 26 approaches its fully closed position of FIGURE l, surfaces 92and 94 of sector 89 cease having contact with surfaces 80 and 82 ofcontrol arm 56 and sector 89 is loosely received within recess 114. Theprovision of recess or cut-out portion 114 assures the clockwiserotation of dog 84 to the position illustrated in FIG- URE l. This ineffect re-sets the dog 84 for the following occasion on which door 26 isopened from its fully closed position.

FIGURES 8, 9 and 10 illustrate a second embodiment of this inventionyand most of the elements which are like or similar to the elements ofFIGURES 1 through 7 are identified with like primed reference numerals.

In the embodiment of FIGURE 8 a wedging member or dog 120 is pivotallymounted on a supporting pin 88' which is carried by the door hinge arm44. Spacers 121 and 123 may be provided in order to maintain dog 120generally midway between sides 50' and 52 of hinge arm 44. End 122 ofdog 120 is preferably provided with a slot 124 in order to receive thebight portion 126 of a generally U-shaped spring 128. Legs and 132 ofspring 128 have oppositely coiled portions 134 and 136, respectively,through which is received mounting pin 104. Ends 138 and 140 of legs 130and 132 are disposed on generally diametrically opposed portions ofhinge pin 42'. Consequently, any tendency or actual rotation of dog 120about pivot 88', either clockwise or counterclockwise, is resilientlyresisted by :spring 128.

The other end 142 of dog 120 is provided with a generally V-shaped slot90 having side surfaces 92 and 94' which are intended to cooperate withthe tapering surfaces 80 and 82', respectively, of the control arm 56'.Even 4though slot 90 is preferably made straight, it can nevertheless bemade generally arcuate so as to have an arc somewhat approaching theradial distance from the center of pivot 42'. As in the embodimentsshown in FIGURES l through 7, spring 58' has one end 59 connected to theswingable end 60 of control arm 56 while the other end 61 of spring 58is operatively connected to the bracket 12 by menas of an aperture 56'formed therethrough.

In viewing both FIGURES 8 and l0, it can be seen that as the doorassembly 26' is moved in the opening direction as indicated by the arrow63, that the slot 90 of dog 120 continues to frictionally engage thewedge shaped portion of control arm 56 as defined by the surfaces 80'and 82' causing the control arm to rotate clockwise about its pivot 40'against the resistance of spring 58. When the door is moved to a desiredposition and released, any tendency of the door to move towards itsclosed position is resisted by the dog 120; that is, much like thearrangement shown by FIGURES 1 through 7 in order to move the doortowards it closed position requires the rotation of dog 120counterclockwise about its pivot 88. This, of course, requiresadditional force in order to further move control arm 56 in a clockwisedirection against the force of spring 58'. Accordingly, such additionalforce is provided manually whenever the door is to be mo-ved to itsclosed position.

When the door is being moved to its closed position, dog 120 is rotatedcounterclockwise `about its pivot 88 and assumes a somewhat cockedposition from that as shown in FIGURE 8 and continues to assume thisposition until the end 142 comes into general juxtaposition with portion144 of the control arm 56. As seen in FIG- URE 9, portion 144 ispreferably provided so as to reduce the width of the otherwise wedgingportion of control arm 56 thereby enabling .the cocked dog 120 to freelyrotate lto its position 4as shown in FIGURE 8. This is achieved byhaving a generally cut-out portion 146 and 148 formed on opposite sidesof the control arm 56 and which generally blend with the taperingsurfaces 80' and 82.

Although only two basic embodiments have been herein disclosed anddescribed it is apparent that other modifications and embodiments of theinvention are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A hinge assembly, comprising a base member, first and second pivotmeans carried by said base member and spaced from and parallel to eachother, a first lever pivotally mounted to said first pivot means, asecond hinge arm pivotally secured to said second pivot means and beingrotatable thereabout to extreme positions of fully open and fullyclosed, resilient means -continually tending to rotate said first levermember in `a direction so as to more closely approach said second pivotmeans, an arcuate friction surface formed on said first lever, a stopmember carried by said hinge arm, and a second friction surface formedon said stop member, said stop member and said second friction surfaceformed thereon being effective to engage said first lever and saidarcuate friction surface formed thereon whenever said hinge arm isrotated about said second pivot means towards said fully open positionfor continually engaging said first lever with a resulting frictionforce which increases as said hinge arm approaches a positioncorresponding to said Ifully open position, the resulting frictionthroughout a range of movement of said hinge al'm being suicient topermit said hinge arm to be held thereby in any position in said rangeof movement.

2. A hinge assembly, comprising a base member adapted to be secured to asuitable support, first and second pivot members carried by said base soas to be spaced from but substantially parallel to each other, a firsthinge arm for supporting an associated swingable member, said hinge armbeing pivotally secured to said first pivot means and rotatablethereabout to opposite extreme positions of fully open and fully closed,a second control arm pivotally mounted at one end to said second pivotmeans and being rotatable thereabout to opposite extreme positions offully open and fully closed respectively attainable whenever said hingearm achieves a position of fully open or fully closed, a tension springhaving its opposite ends respectively operatively connected to said basemember and to a swingable end of sa-id control arm, an abutment portionon said control arm adapted to at times abut against said base memberwhenever said spring is permitted to rotate said control arm to saidfully closed position, .a third pivot means carried by said hinge arm, awedging member pivotally mounted on said third pivot means, a secondspring member carried by said hinge arm l and operatively connected tosaid wedging member so as to resiliently tend to maintain said wedgingmember in a predetermined position, a generally .arcuate frictionsurface formed on said control arm, said friction surface being soformed as to be eccentrically disposed about said first pivot meanswhenever said control arm is in its fully closed position, and afriction groove formed in said wedging member `adapted to operativelyengage said friction surface on said control arm, said wedging memberbeing effective whenever said hinge arm is being moved towards its fullyopen position to engage said arcuate friction surface of said controlarm about said second pivot means against the resisting force of saidtension spring.

3. An infinite stop hinge assembly for a door movable from a fullyclosed to a fully opened position, comprising a first arm member forcarrying said door, first pivot means pivotally securing said first armmember to a support, a control arm pivotally secured by a second pivotmember to said support and having a swingable end, first resilient meanssecured to said support and operatively connected to said swingable endso as to normally resiliently bias said control .arm in a directiontowards said first pivot means, and resiliently bias said control arm ina direction towards said first pivot means, friction means carried bysaid first arm member and situated so as to be generally between saidfirst pivot means and said control arm, and biasing means connected tosaid first arm member and biasing said friction means toward engagementwith said control arm, said friction means being effective whenever saidarm member is moved towards a fully opened position to frictionallyengage said control arm and to move said control arm in a direction awayfrom said first pivot means against the resisting force of said firstresilient means.

4. A variable stop hinge assembly for a door movable from a fully closedto a fully opened position, comprising a first arm member for carryingsaid door, first pivot means pivotally securing said first arm member toa support, a control arm secured to said support, friction means carriedby said first arm member and situated so as to be generally between saidfirst pivot means and said control arm, and biasing means connected tosaid first arm member and biasing sa-id friction means toward engagementwith said control arm, said friction means being effective whenever saidarm member is moved towards a fully opened position to frictionallyengage said control arm with a frictional force which increases inmagnitude as said arm member moves from a fully closed position andtowards a fully opened position,

5. A variable stop hinge assembly according to claim 4 wherein saidcontrol arm has a first contoured friction surface and wherein saidfriction means includes a second contoured friction surface, said firstand second friction surfaces being effective to engage each other formaintaining said rst arm member in any manually selected positionbetween fully closed and fully open.

6. A variable stop hinge assembly according to cla-im 5 wherein said rstcontoured friction surface is of a generally V-like configuration incross-section and wherein said second contoured friction surface definesa generally V-like groove for the reception therein of said firstfriction surface.

7. A variable stop hinge assembly according to claim 4 wherein saidfriction means comprises a wedging member pivotally secured to saidiirst arm member, said wedging member comprising a first portion havinga friction groove formed therein adapted to frictionally engage saidcontrol arm, said wedging member including a second portion formed tooperatively connect to said biasing means carried by said rst armmember.

8. A variable stop hinge assembly according to claim 7 wherein saidbiasing means comprises a torsion spring located on a spring supportcarried by said rst arm member, said torsion spring having one of itsfunctional ends constrained against movement while having the other ofits functional ends in engagement with said second portion of saidwedging member.

9. A variable stop hinge assembly according to claim 8 wherein saidtorsion spring is formed into a generally U-shaped configuration havinga bight portion and legs extending therefrom, said bight portion beingin operative engagement with said wedging member, an intermediateportion of each of said legs being coiled about said spring support, andsaid legs extending beyond said spring support so as to have the freeends of each of said legs engaged by suitable abutment means forpreventing the otherwise free swinging action of said legs about saidspring support.

10. A variable Stop hinge assembly according to claim 9 wherein said oneof said intermediate leg portions is coiled in one direction about saidspring support, wherein the other of said intermediate leg portions iscoiled about said spring support in a direction opposite to said onedirection, and wherein the free ends of said legs engage said abutmentmeans in opposed directions thereby causing said wedging member toexperience substantially the same resilient resistance to rotationregardless of the direction of rotation of said wedging member aboutsaid third pivot means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,065,497 11/1962 Faber 16-146FOREIGN PATENTS 885,630 12/1961 Great Britain.

BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner'.

DORIS L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner.

